The Bank of Yokohama said Thursday its group net profits fell 53.3 percent in the first half ending Sept. 30, mainly due to hefty loan-loss charges and appraisal losses on its stockholdings.

In the six-month period, the Bank of Yokohama posted group net profits of 6.19 billion yen, sharply down from 13.26 billion yen a year ago.

Group pretax profits also shrank 60.1 yen percent to 9.47 billion yen, less than half the 23.79 billion yen in profits a year earlier. Operating revenue came to 160.02 billion yen, down 7.9 percent.

Stock market turbulence dealt an additional blow to the bank's profitability by forcing it to book 29.38 billion yen in appraisal losses on a parent-only basis. However, 8.60 billion yen of the loss was canceled through sales of shares with latent gains.

On a parent basis, the bank said operating profits from the core banking business, the most important gauge of Japanese banks' profitability, increased by 13.25 billion yen to 53.18 billion yen.

The figure is calculated by totaling a bank's profits from its core businesses, such as lending and commissions, before costs related to loan-loss provisions and taxes are subtracted.

The parent-only tally of the bank's bad loans as defined under the financial-system revival law came to a staggering 464.46 billion yen as of Sept. 30, down from 536.56 billion yen on March 31.

They include loans to bankrupt and almost bankrupt borrowers, as well as those to borrowers whose interest payments are more than three months in arrears and to those whose contractual terms were restructured.

In addition to the tally, the bank also reported it has 1.21 trillion yen worth of loans defined as "loans in need of attention" by a Financial Services Agency handbook. This category includes loans to borrowers whose contract terms were relaxed through cuts or a temporary payment suspensions.

The Bank of Yokohama's capital-adequacy ratio crept up to 10.17 percent on a parent-only basis as of Sept. 30, up from 9.51 percent on March 31.

For the full year to March 2002, the bank forecast group net profits of 27.4 billion yen and pretax profits of 47.0 billion yen yen on operating revenues of 310 billion yen.

For the year ended March 31, the bank reported group net profits of 26.51 billion yen and group pretax profits of 49.59 billion yen on operating revenues of 340.11 billion yen.

Ashikaga falls in red

Ashikaga Bank said Thursday it slipped into the red in the first half ended Sept. 30 on a group basis due to 91.38 billion yen in parent loan-loss charges.

In the April-September period, Ashikaga posted a group net loss of 89.97 billion yen, reversing a profit of 3.83 billion yen a year earlier.

The regional bank, which operates mainly in Tochigi Prefecture, also posted a group pretax loss of 94.55 billion yen against a profit of 7.19 billion yen a year earlier, on operating revenue of 70.22 billion yen, down 20.2 percent.

Stock market woes also weighed heavily on the bank's profitability, forcing it to incur 20.63 billion yen in stock-related losses.

On a parent basis, Ashikaga said operating profit from the core banking business shrank by 2.10 billion yen to 17.54 billion yen.

The parent-only tally of Ashikaga's bad loans, as defined under the financial system revival law, came to 737.25 billion yen, up from 405.50 billion yen at March 31. Included in the tally are loans to bankrupt and almost bankrupt borrowers, as well as those to borrowers whose interest payments more than three months in arrears and to those whose contractual terms were restructured.

Ashikaga's capital adequacy ratio fell to 6.68 percent on a parent-only basis as of Sept. 30, sharply down from 9.89 percent recorded on March 31.

For the full year to March, the bank is forecasting a group net loss of 110.30 billion yen and a pretax loss of 102.60 billion yen, on projected operating revenues of 142.80 billion yen.

For the previous business year, Ashikaga Bank reported a group net profit of 9.35 billion yen and a group pretax profit of 16.46 billion yen on operating revenues of 168.56 billion yen.